Tuesday, 15 January 2013

Communicating, like most things, requires regular exercise
and working largely alone, my communication muscles are less the toned sixpack
of Taylor Lautner and more the… well, they’re more like my own abs. A bit,
ahem, lacking. So when I took a sabbatical from Catnip duties, I didn’t really
announce it very well.

But now, having enjoyed a refreshing break from all things
editorial/marketing/publicity/production, I am back and raring to go.

I know the new year has become a bit old, but for the
record, here’s what 2013 is going to mean to me:

Focus.
I’ve enjoyed my downtime – I’d like more of it in future, which means
making my working hours count harder than ever before.

Discipline.
I will not procrastinate (as much – let’s be realistic, this is an
intrinsic part of my character inherited from my father and I’m not about
to have a procrastinatectomy). This means I will tackle at least one
‘unwelcome’ job a day, that way they won’t all pile up on me to deal with
before I next go on holiday.

Anticipation.
The world of publishing works further ahead that I currently do and in
order for Catnip to defend and develop its place in that world, then we’ve
got to get out there the same time as the bigger houses. Because we are
that awesome and everyone else needs to know this.

Perspective.
As in not worrying that the purples in my sales presentation font have
slightly different CMYK mixes and saving the worry for covers, that other
people will actually see.

TELL
PEOPLE STUFF. Like blogging more than once in a while, emailing people and
making sure the authors I work with know how much I love them* and
generally exercising my flabby communication muscles.

So here's to being less lonely and more badassier in 2013. Whoop!

*(If you’re a Catnip author reading this, then know that I
love you LOADS.)